Saturday, November 9, 2024

Oasis fans outraged after final Wembley ticket ballot sale descends into chaos amid tech blunders

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Oasis fans have been left outraged after the final ballot sale for the band’s last Wembley gigs descended into chaos.

Tickets for the two farewell shows next September went on sale this morning at 8.30am via Ticketmaster. The sale was invite-only, limited to fans who received a special ballot code by 9pm last night.

Despite efforts to avoid the dynamic pricing controversy that plagued last month’s general sale, fans faced fresh frustration.

Many reported technical glitches on Ticketmaster, with one fan posting on Reddit: “Getting this message after getting the code and getting through the queue… ‘Something went wrong… An error occurred and we could not reserve your tickets.'”

Another vented on X: “What an absolute shitshow again. @TicketmasterUK you are total garbage!!!”

Adding insult to injury, tickets appeared on resale sites within minutes, some priced at over £1,300.

One outraged fan tweeted: “So f****** predictable. Ticketmaster are a shambles. Proper fans can’t get tickets but the ‘invite only ballot’ tickets are straight on viagogo for over a grand 8 minutes after going on sale.”

The final Wembley gigs are set for September 27 and 28, 2025. Official prices range from £74.25 to £206.25, including fees. Tickets are being released in three 90-minute blocks throughout the day, with a two-ticket per person limit.

It comes after consumer group group Which? called on Oasis and Ticketmaster to “do the right thing” by refunding fans hit by inflated ticket prices.

Fans were shocked when standard tickets for the Liam and Noel Gallagher reunion tour more than doubled on Ticketmaster due to dynamic pricing, which sees costs alter depending on demand.

Originally buyers were told tickets would be £148 but, after queueing for hours, many finally got into the page to find the only option was £355 tickets. Which? asked Oasis fans to send in screenshots of the ticket-buying and checkout process to see if they were warned that ticket prices could rise.

It said that none of the screenshots showed any such warning.

Under consumer law, traders must not mislead consumers about pricing or leave out key information that might be needed to make an informed decision.

Which? said many fans were not informed about the increases until after they had tried to buy cheaper tickets.

Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over the sale. Its investigation will include whether the use of dynamic pricing may have breached consumer protection law. Which? said it would share its findings.

“Oasis and Ticketmaster should do the right thing and refund fans who may have been misled into paying over the odds for tickets that would have been half the price just hours earlier,” it said.

Ticketmaster stated: “Fans can resell their tickets at the full price they paid through Ticketmaster or Twickets.”

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